Joe,
I don't know if you remember the day I called you reporting having turned up a A. J. Reach Willis Hudlin glove. It's now pictured on JD's site. Discoveries like that one always lead to research for me. Who was he? When did he play? How'd he do? All that stuff is a lot of fun, too. I can't imagine there are too many more of those around, if any. Anyone else notice that a Rube Walberg glove popped up on eBay this week?

The Nokona Cal Abrams pops up once and awhile on eBay - I've seen a few of them over the past couple of years. I have a Sonnett Radatz but that is only one I've come across = I've had 3 of his Wilson models. From your list, I've personally owned and sold 2 Johnny Hopps - both were Montgomery Ward manufactured. I have a D&M Bob Sturgeon on my site and I know MVALZ picked up a nice one last summer.

JD, Did you get that last email I sent you. It was concerning the very rare category. I was hoping I would hear back from you before doing anything with the weird web and glove styles. Just let me know your thoughts.

I mentioned this glove in an earlier thread on favorite gloves, it is my Rawlings G900 Billy Bancroft. Joe I know you have it listed as very rare, and have always wondered if there were any others out there.
Also I have a Play Boy Norm Zauchin model mint condition, and how rare are Joe Sewell gloves?
Chuck

This thread has been really interesting to read but I'm wondering why some of these gloves end up being rare. Is it because the manufacturers didn't produce that many? Were the players not popular enough that someone would go into the store and want a model endorsed by that player?

I wonder what the number of each glove a company would produce. The Ken-Wel zipperback flusters me the most. There are only a few know examples but Ken-Wel had to have made a bunch of these, right? Gehrig was a pretty popular player, I would think his gloves would be all over the place. But they are not. Any thoughts?

On the zipper gloves, I always kind of assumed that these gloves might not have been durable enough to last more than a couple seasons. It's easy to imagine the zipper breaking, especially under the wear-and-tear from a lot of game use. Once they broke, they were probably tossed.

Combine that with lower production runs and fewer being sold and you've got yourself an instant rarity!

Chalk it up to the time they were produced. Don't forget, the depression probably put a damper on high end gloves in the early 30's. I can't imagine many people being able to afford a top of the line model during that time. Sporting goods were probably considered a luxury item or a non-essential item. That's why I find homemade gloves and mitts so fascinating. Some of them have to be depression era. Hey mom, since we can't afford a new glove, will you make me one type of thing.

By the way, Joe and I are putting together the glove rarity list - 3 and under type of thing. Once I get it together, I'll post it for some last thoughts from all you Forum members. We can then create a gallery to display them.

I agree with Jim, the Ken Wel Gehrig was an extremely expensive glove for depression times. I’d like to add my own theory too. I’m sure they were manufactured in some quantity due to Lou’s popularity, but given the economy and the fact that base mitts don’t fly off the shelves like fielder’s gloves (face it, kids don’t want to look silly playing short or left with a mitt), there had to be a stash of mint zipper-backs in a warehouse somewhere. Then comes the war. I believe that they were dismantled and the zippers were used in some capacity for the war effort. Just a theory, but I’ve always thought this was a plausible notion.

The "depression" angle crossed my mind, too. With these being top-line mitts, fewer of them that cheaper gloves would be sold even in normal years- probably fewer still due to the tight economy. You would imagine that after the depression kicked-in, Ken-Wel would have anticipated the lower sales and scaled back production, producing even fewer yet. The fact that catcher and first base mitts are less abundant than fielder's gloves to begin with would have to add to the scarcity.

The "war effort" theory is an interesting one, and one I hadn't considered. It sounds plausible, given the stories of how goods and materials were salvaged and rationed during the war years.

One more possibility: Perhaps the glove-buying public wasn't overwhelmed with this "gimmick" and that led to lower sales. We glovers might think they're pretty cool today, but maybe the whole zipper concept failed to win the hearts- and dollars- of the consumers of that era.

If the zipper gloves were wildly popular, wouldn't you expect to see the design carried on beyond a few years in the 1930's? Their collectible value and desirability today aside, maybe back then the design was a marketing flop.

I still would speculate that the relative fragility of a zipper on a baseball glove- a tool that is, banged around, bashed, battered, used and abused- took a lot of these out of circulation and into the trash bin of history. Heck, I have zippers break on pants, jackets and luggage fairly often and they do not see anywhere near the abuse of a typical baseball glove!

Inline with that theory, the most expensive gloves are usually bought by the most serious players. The most serious players are those that play the most ball. Their gloves see the most use and the most use leads to the most wear-and-tear.